Treat Guiseley with respect and be professional says cautious Stags boss

Mansfield Town manager Steve Evans has urged his players to treat National League Guiseley with respect and be professional on Sunday as Paul Cox and Adam Murray return to to the club for the FA Cup second round clash (2pm).

Stags know a lucrative third round tie could be the prize for the winners on Sunday and Evans is determined there will be no giantkilling at the hands of his two predecessors in the One Call Stadium hot seat on their return.

“It will be about mental application for us and professionalism as it was at Shaw Lane. We have to have a really professional performance,” he said.

“Our objective is the same as Guiseley – to be in the next round. We know we are going to have to play well. This is a team that’s just one level difference to us.

“This is not a team like Shaw Lane who were four or five divisions below. This is a team that, if they got promoted, they are with us.

“From that point of view it’s a big game and they have some players who have played as high as the Championship and League One.

“We will treat this just the same as when we go to Crawley or host Yeovil and Morecambe in the weeks after that.”

Guiseley currently sit in one of the relegation spots after three National League defeats in a row.

But Evans said: “What we know if they have good players, one or two of them have played for me, one or two have played for the Stags.

“It will be about what we do. But we have total respect, not only for Guiseley, but for every opponent we face in the season.

“It’s the FA Cup and we are at home. So it’s an opportunity to progress and get into the third round and that’s our only focus.

“We know enough about them. We have an idea how they might play versus how they have been playing and we know it will be tough.”

It will be interesting to see what reception Cox and Murray get on their return to a club where Cox won the club promotion back to the League and Murray served for so many years as a player.

“I have only ever gone back to a club when I’ve done extremely well for them I have been back to Rotherham and Crawley, where I had back to back promotions at both,” said Evans.

“They will bring their team back here and we will treat Paul and Adam with the respect they deserve as the opposition. But we’ll keep our focus very much on what happens on the grass. The respect stops at kick-off.”

After several players disappointed in a poor second half in Saturday’s 2-2 home derby draw with Chesterfield, Evans intends to shuffle his pack.

“We will change the team around on Sunday to reflect I wasn’t happy with the second half last Saturday against Chesterfield,” he said.

“It will be reflective of people who are really working hard and proving a point to be in the team.

“I would think there will be probably four, maybe five, changes. “But they would be experienced players. There’s no games getting played here. There is no weakening sides. There’s no naivety involved.

“We’ve got a big week ahead. We have Sunday in the FA Cup, we have Blackpool on the Wednesday in the Checkatrade – when there will be wholesale changes – and then back to normality for Crawley.”

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